-----with support from their families. Now that we finally have a female Minister for Health, I implore her, woman-to-woman, to implement modern, fit-for-purpose treatment for women throughout Ireland because for far too long women's health has been treated as an afterthought by her side of the House.

I wish to raise the case of a woman in Kilkenny who is unable to work due to cancer treatment and who has struggled with her mortgage as a result. Her mortgage was then sold off, without any consultation, by PTSB to Mars Capital, as it was labelled "under performing". Zero compassion or understanding was shown by PTSB, a majority State-owned bank. This is an outrageous practice by PTSB, selling off the mortgages of struggling cancer patients to vulture funds. This woman is still unable to work but her interest rate…

What I am asking is that-----

The practices of these vulture funds have to stop.

Not in this case.

I thank the Labour Party for tabling the motion. All of us here at some stage will have to think about whether our parents will be in need of nursing home care. It is a very difficult and uncomfortable conversation for any family. It is something we would all like to think our parents will not need but this simply is not how life goes. We put immense faith in these nursing home providers that they will show love and compassion to the people who raised us as they reach a vulnerable stage of their lives. The "RTÉ Inv…

Throughout Kilkenny, there are major ongoing issues with the school transport scheme. In Gowran, the Department advised last year that another school bus be added due to the increase in the population, but still no additional bus service has been allocated. In my own area of Ballyhale, families like my own have been pushed to send children to school outside of their parish, despite the school bus collecting their neighbours. There needs to be a parish rule in order that children can attend the primary school in the…

Bus Éireann needs to engage with people.

So far today, over 40 Palestinians have been slaughtered by Israeli airstrikes. In the past two days, over 250 Palestinians have been killed. A large number of these people were murdered while seeking aid from aid stations. Even Israeli media is reporting accounts from soldiers operating near these stations that they are being ordered to shoot civilians seeking aid. In the West Bank, Israeli forces are evicting Palestinian families and demolishing their homes to make way for more illegal Israeli settlements. Intern…

Has the Minister of State ever stepped back and reviewed the performance of Fianna Fáil in running the Department of housing over the past few years? I refer to a performance review, so to speak, because from the outside looking in, the performance of Fianna Fáil in the Department of housing is looking disastrous and in need of a complete overhaul. Across Kilkenny, we have dozens of council-owned homes left boarded up simply because the Minister of State's Department only allows an insulting €11,000 to do each home…

Last week, we witnessed highly distressing scenes of neglect and abuse at two Emeis-operated nursing homes in Dublin and Portlaoise. These were scenes the Government had long assured us were consigned to history. First and foremost, my thoughts are with the individuals and families affected. I hope counselling and health services have been made available immediately to them. If not, the Minister of State must ensure this is done today. I also commend Clare Doyle and the various whistleblowers who contributed to the…

Genocide is taking place in Gaza. There is widespread ethnic cleansing happening across Palestine. Israel is an apartheid state. Almost every week, weapons are being transported through Ireland to Israel and these weapons are being used to continue that genocide and ethnic cleansing and to uphold the brutal system of apartheid. There is absolutely no denying this. While there is no absence of talk and spin from the Minister and his Government supporters, there is a complete absence of action. Indeed, the Government…

Across Kilkenny, almost 100 council-owned homes lie empty. Over 60 of them will remain empty throughout 2025. Almost one third have been boarded up for over a year. Dozens of families and people in dire need of housing have been blocked from a home of their own this year. While the Government will try to pass the blame on to the local council, the fault and blame lies solely at the feet of the Government and Minister for housing. The black and white reality is Kilkenny County Council does not have the funds to turn…

I welcome this opportunity to contribute on the crucial issue of flood relief schemes. My home county of Kilkenny has borne the brunt of devastating floods far too often in recent times. We do not need to look too far into the past; we all remember the damage done across Kilkenny by Storm Babet in 2023, when the banks of the River Nore broke, leaving Kilkenny city suffering heavy flooding and scores of homes, businesses and roads submerged. During the same storm, Thomastown also suffered heavy flooding. This was fa…

Part of the N25, in particular the stretch out past the Rhu Glenn Hotel, can be described in no other terms than a deadly accident black spot. Over the past number of years, there have been several fatal road accidents along this road. The road traffic report clearly states that the road has completely exceeded the safe number of vehicles. It has a 360% increase in road users. The community has repeatedly sought road traffic safety measures. In February, following the death of a local woman on the road, her family …

The volume of traffic on this route has increased hugely. For 2024, we are looking at a figure of 15,000. That should be 8,000 or 9,000. This route has hugely exceeded what it was built for. There are also 11 local road junctions along this road now. This road was not built for those. We have what is the main route for Wexford traffic coming in to go to the hospitals. More than 80 people have died in the last 40 years. This is an urgent road project. Kilkenny County Council has more than done its job; now we need f…

I thank the Independent Group for bringing forward this motion. As someone who has worked as a carer in the disabilities sector for 18 years, I am acutely aware of the struggles facing this sector. This motion clearly sets out the vital role carers and front-line healthcare workers play in our society. The role they carry out every day across Ireland is a quiet but vital contribution to Irish society. They are the backbone of our care system, ensuring older people, people with disabilities or those with high care n…

The United Nations has reported that up to 14,000 children in Gaza are at risk of starving to death in the next 48 hours. That is the same number of children under the age of 18 living in Carlow. It is unimaginable to picture that amount of death for such innocent children - 14,000 childhoods erased in 48 hours. The genocide in Gaza is reaching levels of unimaginable horror. Yesterday, the EU Foreign Affairs Council met and agreed to take the softest action possible in reviewing the EU-Israel trade agreement and se…

Over 15,000 children are currently awaiting an assessment of need. By the end of this year, that number is expected to soar to over 24,000. The Disability Act clearly states that children must be assessed within six months, but only 7% of children are assessed within that timeframe. Day after day, the Government is breaking the law and, in doing so, failing vulnerable children. After more than a decade of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael running the Department, the neglect of children reached limits that none of us though…

I thank my colleague Deputy Ó Broin for his work on this motion. Right across counties Carlow and Kilkenny, we have towns and villages crying out for an increase in housing. These towns and villages have prime sites for housing developments that are unusable simply because the Government of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael has failed to invest in adequate and fit-for-purpose infrastructure. It is common sense to plan for the future, but this has clearly not been the case across County Kilkenny when it comes to water and s…